SPORTSBIZ -- KEVIN KLEPS

Redskins put 'the franchise' at risk -- for a wild-card game?

As the No. 2 overall selection in the 2012 NFL draft, Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III signed a four-year, $21 million contract with a signing bonus of $13.8 million.

As the No. 2 pick of the 2010 NFL draft, Lions defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh agreed to a five-year, $60 million deal with a hefty $40 million in guarantees.

This ends the good news portion of the RG3 knee saga, which grew in intensity Wednesday morning when ESPN reported the electric rookie was undergoing total reconstructive surgery after injuring his right knee in Sunday's playoff loss to the Seahawks.

Hey, Redskins fans, at least your team hasn't committed a minimum of $40 million to Suh!

Regardless of the lessened salary-cap implications of rookie contracts in the NFL's most recent collective bargaining agreement, Griffin's injury is a shame.

If we could tell he was hobbling from our couches, Mike Shanahan and Washington's team doctors certainly knew Sunday's version of RG3 wasn't the one they had been watching prior to the QB injuring his knee against Baltimore on Dec. 9.

Making even more questionable the Redskins' decision to play an obviously hobbled Griffin, whose knee finally gave out while trying to field an errant snap in the fourth quarter Sunday, is the knowledge that he already had suffered a torn ACL in the same knee in 2009.

Against Seattle, he completely tore the patella graft that was used to repair the '09 injury, ESPN reported.

Now, Griffin is facing a six- to eight-month rehabilitation from Wednesday's surgery, and the Redskins had better hope RG3's recovery at least resembles that of Adrian “At This Point, I Might Not Even Be Human” Peterson.

ESPN's Darren Rovell reported last month that Griffin's No. 10 was the NFL's top-selling jersey not only for the 2012 season, but also for any season since the league began tracking such statistics six years ago.

Was it worth risking the future of the franchise for an NFC wild-card game?

That is up for much debate.

I won't pretend to know more than Shanahan about the situation, but I can't escape the memory of watching him hobble around for more than three quarters.

If you, me and almost everyone on Twitter thought it was risky well before the fateful play on which Griffin tore multiple knee ligaments, how didn't the Redskins think the same?

This wasn't Rex Grossman whose 2013 season was put at risk.

It was RG3, the player for whom the Redskins traded three first-round picks and a second-round selection to draft the 2011 Heisman Trophy winner at No. 2 last spring.

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